The present invention relates to a vehicle occupant safety apparatus and, in particular, to a vehicle safety apparatus for helping to protect an occupant of a vehicle having a roof and a side structure.
The present invention is a vehicle occupant safety apparatus for helping to protect an occupant of a vehicle having a roof and a side structure. The apparatus includes an inflatable vehicle occupant protection device having a deflated condition and having an inflated condition in which a head portion of the inflatable device is inflated between the occupant""s head and the vehicle roof and a side portion of the inflatable device is inflated between the occupant and the vehicle side structure. The apparatus further includes an actuatable inflation fluid source for, upon actuation, directing inflation fluid into the inflatable device to inflate the inflatable device from the deflated condition to the inflated condition. The head portion of the inflatable device is inflated by inflation fluid flow in a direction transverse to the vehicle side structure.
In one embodiment, the head portion of the inflatable device when in the deflated condition has panels which lie generally parallel to a headliner between the headliner and the roof and which extend from the vehicle side approximately to the vehicle centerline. The inflatable device comprises inner and outer panels each made from a single piece of fabric material.